Inside the Outdoors’ Rancho Soñado rebuilds 6 years after Bond Fire tore through the property

A $21 million investment in hands-on learning in Orange County is breaking ground this week — construction on a new outdoor learning center at the 110-acre Rancho Soñado tucked in the Santa Ana Mountains.

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For years, Orange County students explored the property’s natural surroundings, learning about the environment until the 2020 Bond Fire tore through Silverado Canyon, burning the headquarters of Inside the Outdoors, the educational program run by the Orange County Department of Education, along with more than 6,000 acres.

On Tuesday, Oct. 6, county education leaders and project partners held a groundbreaking ceremony kicking off the rebuilding of the center that once had more than 100,000 students visit each year.

Orange County Superintendent of Schools Stefan Bean said that while much of the property was destroyed in the blaze, the center’s mission has lived on.

“Nature reminds us that recovery does not mean returning everything to exactly the way it was. Sometimes recovery means adapting. It means changing, improving, getting better, learning,” said Bean, who reminded the crowd that, in the end, the project is about the people and students, not facilities.

Since the fire Inside the Outdoors has taken programs to schools or organized field trips to other locations, officials said.

The land’s history stretches back decades, said Ken Williams, who has served on the Orange County Board of Education for nearly three decades. He recounted how an anonymous donor gave OCDE the 110-acre property in 2003 through the Trust for Public Land so it would be preserved and used for outdoor education.

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For the next 20 years, he said, students from across Southern California, including Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, traveled to the Silverado Canyon center to learn about the environment and the animals that live there.

Plans for the future facility include an amphitheater, administrative building, four educational pavilions, and indoor and outdoor learning laboratories. A 3,637-square-foot multipurpose building for special instruction and a 4,382-square-foot designated area for outdoor instruction, training, and special events are also planned. Fire-safe materials, such as concrete blocks and metal roofing will be used and interior and exterior water sprinkler systems are planned.

“It’s been a long six years,” said Inside the Outdoors Operations Manager Stephanie Smith, adding she is relieved that the day to rebuild had finally arrived.

Smith lived with her family on-site for 20 years and served as the property’s caretaker and operations manager until the Bond Fire also destroyed her home.

Smith was able to safely evacuate along with her husband and two children, but was forced to leave behind their animals, which ranged from reptiles to birds to various mammals.

She described the property as her “most favorite place in the whole world,” calling it magical “in the heat, in the sun, in the rain, in the wind, and even when it was covered in ash.” She said she “cannot wait until more teachers and students can come up here.” After years waiting for the reconstruction to start, she now looks forward to the open house, ribbon cutting, and a great new parking lot and buildings that will “spark all the passion” in future visitors.

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Completion of the center is anticipated by December 2027 or early 2028.